AUGUSTA, Maine — Gov. Paul LePage says the improvement in Maine’s business tax climate as measured by the Tax Foundation is only the beginning. He will propose further tax cuts, including the elimination of the corporate income tax, to spur job growth in the state.
“We are moving in the right direction and I am pleased to see it,” he said in an interview Thursday. “In my mind, it’s so far away from where we need to be, it’s really symbolic.”
LePage said he wants to be in the “middle of the pack” when it comes to the overall tax burden.
The Tax Foundation released its State Business Tax Climate Index this week, moving Maine from 37th in the nation to 30th. But, LePage said, overall Maine’s tax burden is ninth highest among the states and that has to be lowered for the state to compete with what he calls the “prosperous states.”
“I think the state of Maine should have no corporate tax at all and that the United States of America should be around 20 percent,” he said. “Then we could compete worldwide.”
LePage said it is a global marketplace and Maine needs the federal government to adopt tax policies that encourage growth and that state changes are not enough. He said the Tax Foundation ranking next year should improve again with the further Maine tax reductions that take effect Jan. 1, 2013.
“Maine had the most sizable rank improvement this year, as a repeal of the alternative minimum tax and a change in treatment of net operating losses launched the state from 37th to 30th best overall,” the report stated.
The index compares all of the states in five areas of taxation that affect business: corporate taxes; individual income taxes; sales taxes; unemployment insurance taxes; and taxes on property, including residential and commercial property.
LePage said he made it clear when he proposed the tax changes after his election that they were only a beginning. He said he is looking at several tax cut proposals as part of the two-year budget he will submit in January, but has not decided which reductions to propose.
“[Maine Revenue Services] are giving me a whole lot of different proposals, what ifs,” he said. “We are looking to see how they all would fit into the bigger picture.”
The bigger picture is the new zero-based budgeting process that is still under way and what savings it may yield. Another issue is the structural budget gap of $756 million the state is facing and how the governor proposes to resolve that.
The governor’s promise of further tax cut proposals and elimination of the corporate income tax brought a sharp response from Rep. Seth Berry, D-Bowdoinham, the lead Democrat on the Taxation Committee.
“The direction that the governor is taking our tax code in takes money out of the pockets of the middle class and that is my great concern and that of most Democrats,” he said Thursday.
Berry said for the state to see its economy grow, the incomes of the middle class need to increase. He said the focus of any tax reductions should be on the middle class, not corporations and the wealthy.
Rep. Gary Knight, R-Livermore Falls, the co-chairman of the Tax Committee, said the governor is on the right track to propose further tax reductions. He said the challenge will be how to pay for any of the tax reductions in a sluggish economy.
“I am hopeful in the next two years we can come out with a package that Mainers can accept,” he said. “I am an optimist; I think we can find something that works by working across the aisle with both parties.”
Knight said that, as with the tax cut package that was passed during the current legislative session, there will have to be compromises and a realization that all the goals may not be achievable in a single legislative session.
“To really claim that I was successful as a governor is to leave this office having Maine’s taxes at 25th in the nation,” LePage said.
On whose backs will these tax proposals be implemented?A tax cut of over 750 million is ready to go into effect , so who will pay? Not corporations nor the wealthy.That doesn’t leave many to pay does it.More on the retired and the poor.
so cut spending there genius….
So, let me get this straight, your solution is to cut spending rather than scale down corporate tax breaks? If we scale down corporate tax breaks, doesn’t that infuse more money into the system in order to give our distressed middle class a turn at a tax break. Most of these corporations that receive these breaks sell their products to who?……..the middle class maybe? You show me one corporate executive and his family that DOESN”T have health insurance and I’ll show you a 100 working family’s that are in the same boat. I’ll show you one working family that struggles to pay for health insurance, and you can show me 100 corporate executives and their family’s that have it paid for them.
Cutting spending starts at providing employment, tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy has been proven not to work. Things such as: releasing bonds that the state voters approved……would be a more viable way of helping both business and employment. But of course……….the governor seems to feel that he knows better than the voter’s who approved them, and want infrastructure (which is always a good investment) changes. He wants to pick and choose. a democratic majority in one of the houses (if not both) will certainly even the playing field.
And lastly, if you want to cut spending so much, can you tell me how much the bill that was paid for the AG to fight the HHS ruling as it regards DHHS’s cuts? They threw that thing out as soon as it was filed practically…….what was the purpose of that? Given the salaries, hours, admin time……I’ll bet it was at least a working family’s insurance payment.
As far as I’m concerned; any American originated business that has shipped production facilities out of the US, and sells it’s product in the US and with it’s corporate offices in the US should be required to pay into the national health plan.
But that’s another issue.
Ooops, rusjan, you went beyond the two-sentence limit that people like Jack call an “attention span.” As with Eddie Munster Ryan last night, they don’t deal in details. And perish the thought that one would expect some truth from them.
When I first moved to Maine, Maine corporations paid 27% of the Maine Income Tax. In the last decade that has fallen to between 2 and 4%. Why would any rational person want to cut it more?
Yes!!!
Lets stop buying Toxic Landfills and Private Highway Studies!
Great! Let’s start with “business assistance and retention programs and corporate welfare incentives” and food stamps for the working poor — require big box monstrosities to pay a living wage, or do without the labor. It’s called “individual responsibility”. ..not just for poor people anymore.
My property taxes just went up 200 bucks bianually so 400 bucks per year . And that’s with two schools totally closed. That’s who is going to pay.
Your City/Town’s budget has to do mostly with that, not the State budget.
Sorry, LePage has been shifting costs to the towns as a fundamental part of his agenda.
That is the direct result of the hypocrite-in-chief, Lepage, trying to balance his budget…as usual with republicans, it is done on the backs of the poor. Watch for more of his shell-game tactics.
This thought of yours is for the birds. The left wings. Where is your proof? Nice guy who bashes republicans makes fool of self. That was surely your fortune cookie.
It’s true,
Wake up!Get out of the Hammock!
Paul Ryan!
“We need to reduce the Tax Rates and Broaden the Base.”
What do you think that means? I’ll tell you what it means. It means reduceing the Tax Rates on everybody and then eliminating your tax deductions and exemptions such as mortgage interest, health Insurance Deductions , Earned Income Credits ect, ect, ect, so that those at the bottom who pay NO taxes, ( The 47 % that Romney Loaths) will take up the slack for the top who get massive benefits in Tax Savings by way of the shear volume !
The Bush Tax cuts benefited everybody to the point where those at the bottom began to pay NO Tax!
Eliminating that (Now) by way of Closing these deductions and giving those with massive incomes reductions by way of rates only drives this country further into debt!
Driven into debt these Republican Miscreants call for eliminating spending for everything but the Military in order to put the stranglehold on all of Government but the Armed Forces that they need for back up to go out and exploit the REST of the globe!
Do you own a small business? If you do, then you would welcome a tax cut. There is no way a further tax cut for small businesses would drive this country further into debt. That money saved as a result of a tax cut, would be used to hire more people. Many small business offer on the job training. Just saying.
Own one?
Most lefties don’t even know what one is !
Own a small business/ You Betcha!!!!
Hardly!
I graduated from Business classes with an A++ on my business plan paper!
The part that I find annoying is this Marlarky about how business needs Tax Breaks in order to grow!
Anyone worth his salt in the Business community knows that what a business needs is a viable plan, well laid out with TRUE, Statistics and projections, that a bank will buy into!
All the Political Hype from the right on this issue is so False that anyone with any Idea as to what is going on, discredits and disregards this Tax Breaks cause growth theory!
I would rather have Money in My Customers pocket to buy my services than a Tax Cut for income that I won’t make because everyone is so poor that they can’t afford those services!
mill rate in my town went down 3% this year thanks to a fiscally conservative board of selectmen and budget committee
Imagine the rush to incorporate if this becomes law! I know my part time company will. Then I’ll just draw a little salary while I charge everything else in the name of the corporation. Heck, everyone will open their own business, incorporate, and then no one will be paying state income tax. ha ha ha ha ha ha, I can see it now!
You know when Paulie holds a cup up to his face as in the photo above most of us are all waiting for him to say “Th..th..that’s all folk!” He wants to be the leader of corporate wellfare for the rest of the swine who just can’t seem to get enough or hide enough for themselves and their family members. Better get on that quick Paulie, November 6th is coming right up!
Start by voting out Garrett Mason and vote in Colleen Quint!
Why would that help anything. Colleen Quint would be a terrible senator. Garrett Mason has actually done something for this state. Correct me if I’m wrong but he is a young guy. Shouldn’t we be encouraging our youth to stay here in Maine?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_Foundation
Board of directors – The Tax Foundation
David P. Lewis
James Lintott
Bill Archer
Former BOD:
Wayne E. Gable
James C. Miller III
Joseph O. Luby Jr.
James Q. Riordan
R. Glen Hubbard
Michael P. Boyle
others:
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
Pamela F. Olsen
if none of these names looks familiar to you, look them up – this is who they are associated with.
Exxon/Mobile
Koch
Bush
McCain
Regan
Americans for Prosperity
Curiously enough, go look at the current listing of who’s supporting Grover and hs bunch. Can we all say C-L-O-N-E .
Conservative politicians fear two things Mike – Norquist and Big Bird. The best way to ruin a Republican Senator’s day is to look in the door of his Washington office and say “Grover’s on the phone” ! We’ve already had a Senator from Maine quit because of him.
As for Sesame Street: it seems that most politicians never watched it – and, as a result, never learned the difference between the words “yes” and “no”. They also apparently missed an explanation of most of the numbers between 3 and 9. Probably explains the Ryan tax plan. And maybe the Guv’nor’s ?
50’s, regretfully what we as Mainer’s have had is not a Senator that quit out of frustration but out of a lack of guts to kick these rightwing extremist’s right in the ‘jewel box’ and cut there threat’s of blacklisting off right at their throat. Grover is one very short step, given his recent statement’s, from going over the edge and becoming the next George Lincoln Rockwell in his call for a more secure and ‘liberty seeking nation’. Norquist believes that the entire Country is a bunch of sheep that need to be lead around by the nose by folk’s he’s chosen. Funny, isin’t it ? He call’s for a more ‘liberty seeking nation’ but in the same breath says that we a a Nation don’t have brain’s to govern ourselves but he does. Now I might have fallen off the truck. But it wasn’t today and know what ‘stuff’ smell’s like, even if it’s doused in colougne and aftershave. And when other’s like Romney and Ryan start jumping on Grover’s bandwagon, well, in this case The Constitution is wrong. There is guilt by association and Grover is proof of that beyond any shred of doubt.
Grover Norquist belongs in Jail!
standing up to socialism is a crime?
No but if you actually read, and follow, Grover’s plan for America you are gonna find that Grover and Co. are going to put every Gov’t function up for bid. Think of it, Gov’t at every level (health care, criminal justice, foreign policy, scientific research, economic policy, environmental policy, emergency and disaster policy and the other’s) all completely contracted out and up for sale to the highest bidder. Now if you’ve really got a good grip on reality, and can see just where that lead’s, then yes, I’m more than willing to stand up to Grover’s idea of a Contracted for Government. What Grover is calling for is nothing less than outright Government for Sale National Socialism, trying to justify Corporate Abuse’s of the Public Trust under the cover of ‘Well, the Private Sector can get it done cheaper’ nonsense. Some things the Government does can not be Contracted out to save on cost’s and tax’s. Grover knows that but is waving The Flag in front of everbody to get everyone in a hystrerical mood, and voting with their emotions instead of their common sense. LePage and the current TPr’s are doing the same exact thing. Charlie Webster tried. Now, 2 years later, he’s seen the result’s by way of LePage. Even he’s seen the light. Question is will it dawn in on him in time next go’round. Only time will tell.
Nothing can be more exemplary of that then the Katrina Disaster Debacle where the Bush appointed failure Brown made government look inept to handle the situation!
Quess who the benifactor of that purposeful engineered disaster?
You quessed it!
Jeb Bush! the perpetrators brother who has recently became part owner in a Disaster Relief Company!
Don’t believe it?
Google Jeb Bush and Disaster Relief!
The Next Domino to fall from this Republican Fascist Assault on America will be the Post Office!
Bribing Legislators to Relinguish their Constitutional Power of Taxation with Votes is nothing short of Racketeering!
You must have been whacked up aside the head at sometime in your life with a Hammer and Syckle, creating a permanent sounding resonance of Socialism, Socialism, Socialism in that Empty Space!
Gee.
Used to be that successful people were looked at with a bit of respect for their accomplishments.
How things have changed since the White House has been inhabited by a “community organizer”.
in one sentence you complain that I don’t respect people who are successful, and in the next you insult President Obama, who is quite successful in his own right….kind of hypocritical there.
I think it’s great when people are successful, doesn’t mean they’ve earned my respect beyond that.
My point in posting the BOD of The Tax Foundation is so that others are informed as to who this foundation is run by. Transparency and all that…..
You have a bizarre definition of “successful”.
That was back when businessmen had a sense of integrity and didn’t abuse their financial power. Now they make gains as preditors feeding on the less fortunate.
It all is determined by how you measure success!
After All Al Capone was successful by the Republican Code!
Capone…….Capone…..Wasn’t he from Chicago?
Yeah!
Chicago had Republicans in the Thirties!
They carried Thommyguns!
LOL
“Successful people” are STILL looked upon with respect for their accomplishments.
If you use the Republican definition of “successful”? …privatize profits while socializing loss? …amass wealth through hard work — other people’s, uncompensated hard work? …liquidating our natural capital?
The sort of success that threatens democracy and life on this planet is not really “success” at all.
This nothing more than a pat on the head from the Koch brothers for Poor Paul. Kind of like when an auto manufacturer gives the dealer another plaque saying how great they are.
aroostookme is dead on and, at the same time, short of the target. He is very correct in asking about who is gonna pay for these corporate tax elmination’s, how they are gonna be paid as far as sudden ‘short’s’ in State funding that the Corporate tax is currently covering for it and what they fund. But there is another issue that is missed, that being the EXISTING OUTSTANDING BOND’S Maine has out right now. LePage has convieniently left out the ‘how’ of how these current bond’s are gonna be paid off since they were issued, and their payment schedule based on, the current State system, which includes the Corporate Tax.
Now I am all for a tax cut but before we all go and give ourselves a giant Hoorah, am I the only one here to see a GIANT HOLE as far State finance’s go when the interest payment, not to mention the principal, come due at some point and the tax plan they were issued on is nowhere to be found, along with the funding that’s supposed to be supporting the Bond’s ? They come due, and no tax cash is in the State Treasury, someone had better be able to write that giant IOU to the Bondholder or it’s gonna get pretty ugly, real quick. Maybe that’s why he’s so suddenly refusing to sign off on only certain Bond Package’s. The Statehouse’s 2 Finance and Oversight Committee people are gonna have a lot of numbers to crunch if this goes much further. And someone had better hope that the commercial Bond Market’s are ready for this. This get’s sprung on them with no notice and you are gonna see virtually every Maine Bondholder start asking some very pointed, and very awkward, question’s. And the next set of inevitable steps and consequences are not far behind. Is anyone awake at the Treasuer’s Office or is the ‘Gone moosehunting’ sign still on the door ?
I didn’t see any mention in the story about when Maine’s unemployment rate might be going down. Mr. LePage seems to have forgotten to tell us that while the Tax Foundation is moving Maine up to number 30 that the State’s unemployment rate has been rising as well. While unemployment is falling in most of the Country here in Maine it has been rising since Dec. of 2011.
Unemployment just went down, or so the federal government says. Are you sure that its going down everywhere but Maine?
It didn’t go down in Maine. You really should try keeping up with what is published by the DOL.
How about the timing of that??
“Are you sure that its going down everywhere but Maine?”
Two minutes of Google will confirm that Maine’s unemployment rate is the highest in New England and has been rising for ten consecutive months. Vermont has the strongest social safety net (and the highest minimum wage) in New England and the lowest unemployment.
More evidence that tax cuts for the wealthy and big business do not create jobs.
I think I read somewhere that 115,000 or there about jobs were “created”, total in America this year.
Must be the medical marijauna stores.
Gary knight new governor . The man looks at both sides and is real about things .
knightnew man look all around ya mon he good he get job done and keep the leaf ok me like
I have had a few Emails with Mr. Knight on important issues to me . Seems he is one of the few from either party who votes on the issue not the party. Check out his vote On LD1833 . Clearly was an ALEC bill sponsored by Andry Cushing R. Hampden . The bill did pass anyways. But the point is he and Stacey Guerin . went against my Cushing Took the time to research the in and outs before they voted . Bill Had some good points in it . But the real objective was to drive down wages not make more jobs. Thanks can’t you make me feel smart reading your post have a great day.
Given LePage’s track record, and his colossal waste of time and money in the ACA case in DC and his getting Maine’s collective too-too shot off in Boston over the Medicare and Medicaid issue (that the Court told him even before he and the AG filed it was a no win case) Gary Knight might be one to look at as an Independent. right now since Charlie and the GOP, and Ben and the Democrat’s, don’t really have anyone that could even be seriously considered for Governor. LePage is rapidly running out of gas with the moderate’s of both Party’s and, given his antic’s recently, is going to be seen as a fringe Candidate, minus whatever support he gets from the Tea Party.
Nov 6th is going to go A VERY LONG WAY in determining just what Candidate’s are going to be running for Governor, and even more important, the position’s they take an issue’s Mainer’s consider important enough to come out and vote on. Education, Finance, Transportation, Business start-up’s and development (the Brunswick Landing Complex comes to mind almost instantly for a great many people) and Health Care all are going to be on Mainer’s mind’s. Maine needs a Governor that put’s Mainer’s first in their planning and managing of the State, not as an afterthought on some memo sheet. We’ve seen enough of that with LePage and his current band of crony’s in Augusta. And the Statehouse election’s are going to go along way in sending LePage that message too. Last year’s Budget Reconcilliation vote, in the face of LePage’s veto threat, was seen by many as a sure sigh that Paulie and Company are not going to have anywhere near the latitude he had last year. The up-coming vote for the current Statehouse seat’s are going to go a long way in reafirming that message………………..
LePage for President 2020!! After 2 terms by Romney!!
Or just keep voting in more tax subsidized wind farms to make folks like King Angus rich and to increase your electric bills.
funny how I see some people complain about using tax dollars to help fund projects for alternative energy sources, but yet the same people never complain about the oil/gas companies who receive billions of dollars from the government and yet are making record profits.
The trick is that the oil companies give us something we all use and need..like it or not. And “we” don’t “give” them anything. They just get to write off some of the expenses…and keep some of their own money.
“GREEN ENERGY” on the other hand is given taxpayer money….like Solyndra….half a billion from us to OBAMA to Solyndra…who had donated a lot of cash to get the Great One annointed. Alternative energy is a good idea, but isn’t feasable yet…let private industry and private funding do the research. Go drink your kool-aid before it gets warm.
Yes I agree both parties only look out for themselves not the people.
The government may not cut them a check (though I’m sure in plenty of cases they do) but 4 billion in tax breaks has the same impact as if we did cut them a check. If the republicans are going to complain about 47% (poor, elderly, military and disabled etc) of American citizens who don’t pay federal income taxes, why are they not complaining about a billion dollar industry who doesn’t pay either?
If you’re going to complain about Solyndra going bankrupt and blame it all on Obama – I suggest you also look up a company called Konarka, and look at how Gov. Romney gave them funding and how they went bankrupt.
We should be responsibly investing into research and implementation of alternative energy, and renewable resources. Oil isn’t going to be around forever.
And how many billions in revenue do the federal and state governments raise anually through their respective fuel taxes? I cannot give you the exact figures, but the federal fuel tax alone raises 30 billion plus each year ( I know it was around 25 billion per year when dubyah was running the show).
So basically the feds are up about 25 billion each year in the deal….
You claim you want “responsible” investment into alternative energy but provide examples from both parties where their investments have resulted in abject failure.
I agree we need to be looking into alternative energy in th long term, but looking to government to provide the solutions will, as you pointed out, get you nowhere and potentially bankrupt in a hurry.
agreed, both parties have screwed up – and I agree that we need to look at AE in long term. I think government needs to be part of it, but not all of it. I think for the most part, we’re pretty much on agreement here.
“And how many billions in revenue do the federal and state governments raise anually through their respective fuel taxes?”
Not nearly enough to actually cover the externalities that are inherent in burning fossil fuels.
And that tax money is what is used to maintain the highways and infrastructure of this country. In fact the tax revenue is based on gallons used. When the oil industry/speculators sneeze and use that as an excuse to jack the prices up, we lose revenue because people aren’t buying as much gas.
You, like many too lazy to check, keep bringing up Solyndra, one failure out of many successes. Less than 1% of clean energy projects have failed. In the mid west, even republicans are objecting to cutting funding for clean energy because it has provided thousands of jobs for their economies.
Binky, you wanna see the Federal Deficit come down, here’s an easy one. Chop the oil and gas subsidy’s out and direct them to the Deficit Reduction Program. Do that for 4 years and there is no Federal Deficit. The oil and gas industry are being propped up by these subsidy’s and nonsensical tax credit’s for what is basically moospoop. That subsidy money, once the deficit is paid off, can then be turned loose on either the ACA or, and yes I still believe in it, the alternative energy market’s. ‘Soly’ was indeed a mess. But any technology is going to have these in their development. What’s not been seen is just what was learned. That is the cost of development, the cost of learning. Edison once said that if you try and fail then you at least konw one more way that it won’t work. That’s why development and experimentation cost. But once it’s done, it’s done and it can then be duplicated at a very minimu cost. We know solar work’s. It’s just a matter of developing it to produce the power in the amounts needed. That’s called development. Wind, I will agree, I am still out on until I see a lot more objective information on. But it’s there and it’s worth exploring until someone can prove, beyond any objective doubt, that it does not work. And that’s what these oil and gas subsidy’s need to do, be directed at the technology that needs developing, not feeding ancient dinosaur’s……..
” the oil companies give us something we all use and need”, you just made me spit my coffee up.
Where is there a line that I can get into to be on the receiving end of the oil companies giving me anything? Unless you are talking about the ever increasing bills.
“…oil companies give us something we all use and need” …for which we pay them handsomely at the pump. They charge what the market will bear, with or without subsidies, which go to ever more profits.
Solyndra is a private company, Einstein, that got less than BP’s tax CREDIT for cleaning up its mess in the Gulf (supposedly cleaning it up, anyway). Perhaps a Moon Shot endeavor for alternative energy would do better. By the way: alternative energy is perfectly “feasible” in countries with a lot fewer sunny days; less wind…. It’s only “unfeasible” here politically, because too many people like YOU have drunk the CORPORATE Kool Aid…..
‘evil’ ExxonMobil paid 7.7 billion in taxes for the 1stQ 2012 while Apple paid 3.9 billion with higher profits than ExxonMobil. Explain that one
first, check those numbers – both companies are global – look for their US taxes paid, not total taxes paid. They like to claim that they pay 40% in taxes, but that percentage is total taxes paid, not just US taxes.
ExxonMobil has a lot more plants in the U.S. than Apple does. In addition Exxon has a pretty good dividend, after it pays its corporate tax, shareholders have to pay tax on those dividends which Democrats want to raise to close to 40%
actually the federal and state governments plunder billions every year from oil and gas company sales via fuel taxes…
the balance is definitively in government’s favor, so can it already with this lame, regurgitated argument
Who really owns the oil? It’s deep in the earth. Who decided land owners only own the surface of the planet?
Wind whiners are loud and obnoxious and like to pretend that their copious copying and pasting, leading to volume only dominance in comments sections, means they represent more than the fringe of Maine citizens’ opinions.
.
Independent polls consistently show strong majority support for Wind development and supports in Maine with opponents coming in third after the “no opinion” vote.
Wow! Fantasy Island!
“Or just keep voting in more tax subsidized wind farms to make folks like King Angus rich and to increase your electric bills. ”
Alternatively we could continue to subsidize the fossil fuel industry to make folks like the Koch Brothers rich and in the process increase your health insurance bill, make breathing more difficult, increase global temperature, destroy the nation’s breadbasket and raise sea levels.
Wind is a diffuse resource, and doesn’t work very well in concentrated, centralized applications. It is much more suited to smaller turbines dispersed at the point of electricity usage.
Of course, things like physics don’t fit nicely into OUR business models that seek to concentrate wealth for a few shareholders……
Aren’t you a visionary!
This is what “YOUR” America would look like!
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2005/20050603_slum.jpg
LOL
Be careful Paul, democrats despise tax cuts because it affects how they can fight to hand out benefits (entitlements). They don’t really want a prosperous Maine, they just want to pool all of the money and distribute it as they see fit.
Democrats don’t despise tax cuts. We just think they should be responsibly implemented.
Watch the repubs they like to spend on things that only apply to them, with everyone elses money but not theirs.
It’s so laughable, they all work under the same roof and play these games and while people argue over stupid meaningless stuff they drop more taxes on the working class and make cuts and breaks for themselves.
If we didn’t have the Federal Government to support we’d all have more money and less stupid laws.
Privatise Profits!
Socialise Losses!
It’s the Republican Way!
Good one. Perhaps we should all open a business and share the losses with them.
They must have changed the State Constitution! i think it might take a vote in the state legislature to pass that one. i feel it will all depend on how many of his parrots are reelected.
How about any business that comes to Maine and hires fifty or more full time employee at $10.00 or more per hour with full benefits pay no corporate taxes its first five years?
OH MY GOD !!!!
WHAT ABOUT THE CHILDREN ?
Oh, sorry.
WHAT ABOUT THE ENVIRONMENT ?
Sorry again.
WHAT ABOUT THE TEACHERS ?
AND THE POOR. WHAT ABOUT THE POOR?
Some of those “poor” would get jobs. The workers would still be paying income taxes. The workers and their families spending money and buying for an increases in sales taxes. I think this would offset the lose of the corporate taxes. This might help bring in more businesses with more jobs to help in large the overall tax base. With a larger tax base, you have more funds for the needy.
“It isn’t about jobs; slaves had jobs. The issue is wages.” ~Jim Hightower
It’s time to ask ourselves if the Walton Family is entitled to the welfare they consume, both directly and indirectly — $500,000 per store for food stamps. How much money do they need before they step up and pay livable wages? …or go without the labor.
Yes, comrade.
The people’s money that those dirty capitalist pigs stole from the hard workers united.
We will throw these capitalist pigs to the gutter with the rest of us.
How dare they rise above the exalted workers united.
The Dead Sea Sect was communal and Wiki says The United Federation of Planets was described as a post-capitalist liberal democracy and utopian socialist society.
Before I give up and ask the answer here’s a few questions.
Who is your God?
Don’t have any for awhile, quit what you can’t afford or move back to your parents?
Have some respect?
What about them?
They can move back home with their parents?
Ok I give up whats the answers?
ROMNEY/RYAN 2012
He scares me, cause I’m one of the 47% and he says I don’t pay my taxes and don’t count. I’m doing a write in.
Me too.
Netanyahu/Harper 2012
How about this for NO NEW TAXES: IF you bought anything since 2006 online without paying taxes MAINE REVENUE SERVICE is coming after YOU!!!!
They will find you. http://www.maine.gov/revenue/compliance/utcompliance.html
You will pay.
Another LIE from the LePage administration.
Make sure to thank your republican legislator for the new law. Thanks GOP!!
This is not a new tax. The sales and use tax has been in effect for many years. The only people who need to be concerned about Maine Revenue “coming after” them are those who did not properly report their on-line purchases and the corresponding use tax.
This is not “another lie from the LePage administration.” This is a lie perpetuated by those who do not bother to do some research before they go off half-cocked.
I think we should tax business more not less. I don’t want to see anyone have to work. I want to pay high prices for everything. Business should give all their earnings to the state and fed to support the peoples wants. Tax them more I say. Drive them right out of the state and let them go somewhere else that wants them. Those greedy business owners. I say raise their taxes so they can raise their prices so we all will pay more then we all can scream for more welfare money to cover the rising costs.
Good post!!!
You’re waaaay behind, dude.
The Dems have been doing this for 40 years.
If businesses paid livable wages, the welfare rolls would decrease. …and they would have paying customers with which to grow.
It would also be less humiliating for hardworking poor people.
A big reason why I am not a Democrat, is that they won’t stand up for businesses paying for what they use. They would rather keep their corporate donors happy with low wages, then hand out welfare….
Senate President Kevin Raye, R-Perry in the Morning Sentinal, June 21, 2011: “the largest tax cuts in the history of Maine,” (Governor LePage’s two-year state budget which took effect on July 1, 2011)
“Obama’s 2011 Budget Tax Hikes Contradict Focus on Job Creation”- Curtis S. Dubay of the Heritage foundation
Gov. LePage signs budget with largest tax cut in Maine history” – Twin City Times staff
Maine’s 2012 historical unemployment rate from January to August:
Jan. 7.0%
Feb. 7.1%
Mar. 7.2%
Apr. 7.2%
Jun. 7.5%
Jul. 7.6%
Aug. 7.6% (Preliminary)>
The U.S. historical unemployment rate from January to August 2012:
Jan. 8.3%
Feb. 8.3%
Mar. 8.2%
Apr. 8.1%
May 8.2%
Jun. 8.2%
Jul. 8.3%
Aug. 8.1%
Sep. 7.8%
When Paul was five, his father lost his job at the Androscoggin Mill — it would close down entirely four years later — and was thereafter listed in the Lewiston Directory as being a house painter and, later, simply a laborer. Meanwhile, Paul’s mother birthed children on a nearly annual basis — seventeen in total “
(Second paragraph)
“To really claim that I was successful as a governor is to leave this office having Maine’s taxes at 25th in the nation,” LePage said.
Unless you’re a disabled vet mill worker / labororer with 17 kids Homemaine?
so, according to you, 52.92% of this country are idiots? That’s right up there with Gov. Romney’s 47% comment.
Thankfully, enough have come to their senses to put Romney into the classification of head of household at the White House.
Even if most of the 47% make the effort to get off the coach to vote.
That 47% is wearing combat boots under horrific conditions; that 47% is working VERY hard caring for our elderly, or children, building infrastructure, providing you with food, installing your household services, filling the shelves at your local big-box monstrosity…
THAT 47% IS CAMPED OUT IN FREEPORT ILLINOIS RIGHT NOW IN A MODERN-DAY HOOVERVILLE OF BAIN CAPITAL’S CREATION. They are trying to block a convoy of trucks carrying machinery and their jobs to Communist China where the corporate-welfare/oppressed labor is more “business friendly’. They have begged Mr. Romney to intervene. He refuses even to hear them. By the way: that 47% pays a higher effective tax rate than Mittens the Romneytron
Surly you’re joking.
The 50% of the 47% that I observe (23.5% for those without a GED) aren’t up before 10:30 AM, and with the time change, that would definately put them in bed at that hour.
Look up the actual percentage of the 47% with no income tax liability without education; without a job — most have both. They also pay taxes called payroll taxes, certainly at a higher rate than the corporate welfare queens do on their Swiss bank accounts!
The statistics are there; you needn’t invent them.
Many hardworking people, who toil into the night have every right to sleep that late…
By the way, what are YOU doing “observing” people sleeping until 10:30am? Don’t YOU have a job? …or anything better to do?
Actually, it’s my job to check on these folks, and you?
Get a “REAL” Job!
” By the way, what are YOU doing “observing” people sleeping until 10:30am? ”
BINGO!
LOL
This is not going to fair well for the poor, the attack on the poor will go into high gear, the working people of Maine, will not fair well either, we will be paying for no corporate tax, good Gawd, ya know, with the Great Gov and that coffee cup, makes him look sort of like a pig, well the big shots will be at the trough, the poor and working poor will be filling the trough.
> Maine’s business tax climate as measured by the Tax Foundation is only the beginning.
There is a frightening prospect for the middle class people of Maine.
Who is the Tax FoundationTelegraph ?
Tax Foundation study tries to give a boost to Romney’s tax plan
Dallas Morning News (blog) – 5 hours ago
The conservative Tax Foundation is out today with an analysis that …
http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2012/10/tax-foundation-study-tries-to-give-a-boost-to-romneys-tax-plan.html/
The govs. no new taxes did not include the working class people it was designed for big business and the rich to pay less.But someone has to pay for the budget increases that the lawmakers come up with and the short fall they say we will have.I wonder who will bear the brunt of that?Surely not the ones that only pay a small % of what they should.
I’m wondering how LePage plans to get these trickle down tax cuts which don’t work through the new legislature? What is he going to do? strong arm, invade committee proceedings, grunt, roar, cajole and threaten members of a majority party which he doesn’t happen to belong to? I’m confident that the people of Maine realize that this rogue governor needs to be held in check. LePage does not represent the interest of all Mainer’s, he represents the interest of a conservative viewpoint, which is fading fast, and needs to be held in check. He represents his own political philosophy that simply is falling fast.
Another bogus proposal from Landslide LePage. I thought one of the primary problems in Maine was the lack of a trained workforce. It usually takes a few years to train someone and the businesses aren’t willing to start up an apprentice programs. Where are these trained people to be found. The solution may be found in businesses that have low-end jobs. But then how many hamburger joints, Wal-marts, and coffee joints can you support? You can cut business taxes all you want but if the workers aren’t there you won’t be enticing the kind of business you want and need. The thought just struck me regarding just how many businesses there are in existence that think beyond their quarterly profits. From my observation not many.
Hey lepage, can you look anymore like a pig for the camera.
Vote out Garrett Mason, elect Colleen Quint for state senate!
Maybe reducing corporate taxes will encourage businesses to relocate to Maine. Of course, in the meantime, schools will be scraping for money. Infrastructure projects will get take a hit. Social services will be reduced. Environmental protection will be ignored. But that’s the way we like it. We voted for Governor LePage and put Republicans in a majority in the state legislature. Things probably won’t get much worse, at least not right away.
Yes, please increase my property tax.
“Gov. Paul LePage says … He will propose further tax cuts, including the elimination of the corporate income tax, to spur job growth in the state.”
My first good laugh of the day. Thank you editor friends at BDN.
In the European newspapers I have read, they are asking,”What are Republicans thinking?”
Europeans are frankly afraid because they say that when the Republicans have bled this country dry, our fall will drag down the entire world economy.
And right now the European countries I have visited lately have a very good thing going. Healthcare. Education up through graduate school. Month long vacations. No poverty. No slums. A place for the mentally ill so they don’t sleep out on the street. Half their national budgets don’t go for war. No Grange suppers for poor families or veterans with no legs.
Are taxes high there? Yes. Of course. You should want to live where everybody pays high taxes. Where do you think all these things come from? Wages are higher. Benefits are higher. Vacations are longer. Roads are better. The secret to eliminating poverty in a country is to require everyone to pay taxes according to their ability to pay. You can visit many very prosperous countries in the world today where people live quite nicely without cutting taxes for corporations and the rich, thank you. Guess who the people are in this country who want you to believe just the opposite? They know that you’ve never spent any time in Northern Europe so you’re more than likely to believe anything they tell you.
And, nota bene, as they say in Holland, Europeans do not blame our troubles on our “government.”
They say, “What are Republicans thinking? If the Republicans don’t permit the government to tax the rich, which will balance the U. S. budget, they’ll bring us all down.”
Anyone who owns a corporation will tell you that giving corporations more money is Good For Business.
But back in the good old days they tell us that our government was elected by and responded to the needs of the people and their small businesses and not corporations.
There are countries in this wonderful world where this is still the norm. If more people from the U. S. would spend some time over there, they might consider voting to have at least a few of those good things here for themselves.
The humble Farmer
you failed to mention Greece and Iceland are bankrupt, Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland teetering on the edge. the rest of the world is blaming Europe for the prolonged recession. the U.K. is somewhat stable but you have no personal freedom. Switzerland is the only country in Europe with any common sense. myself i will stay right here in the good old U.S.A. which despite its faults is still the GREATEST nation on the face on the earth
You don’t get out much do you. No “personal freedom” in the U.K.? (sigh + facepalm)
you cannot own a gun or even legally defend yourself over there. guess i don’t need to get out much, happy right here at home
I’ve clearly spent more time in the U.K. than you have. You are, as usual, incorrect. In many ways, they are more democratic than the U.S.. You can put away that enormous foam “#1” finger now, along with your parochial nonsense.
I am as usual, correct. Handguns are outlawed in the U.K. they also have a little law called the Official Secrets Act that is very undemocratic. and you know what you can do with your liberal college professor i am an expert attitude!
How come no one likes your comment?
truth hurts
Have you ever wondered why ALL these countries are going Bankrupt?
You don’t suppose it has anything to do with the hoard of 16 to 31 Trillion Dollars sitting idol and hiding in Bank Accounts through out the world do you?
Socialist governments had a lot to do with it
It’s amazing that People are still buying that one today!
Remember the German Chancellery Fire?
“The Socialist Did It!”
As Hitlers Fascist Henchmen Roasted German Sausage over the Flames!
Replace LePage, problem solved…!!!
Well, I am just breathless in anticipation to see how much my property taxes will go up to pay for these tax cuts. My property tax made a 33% leap last year on the back of the cuts implemented by the state to the town. Where will it end?
IMO, the towns and counties need to stand up and tell the state that all the regulations that aren’t funded by the state will cease along with the reductions in funding from the state to the towns and counties.
Orginally, it was set up that Government worked for the people and not the other way around. Go to your town meetings and get things back on track and bring people who want Government to work for them instead of what we have now. You can make positive change if you want to.
Re: Governor LePages coffee mug. Is that the only reward you get from Grover Norquist? I wish you worked for the State of Maine citizens as cheaply.
He looks like Mr Piggy !
Tax-free AND free to pollute. What a bargain.
No mention in the story that the Tax Foundation is a conservative organization with serious ties to the Koch Brothers and the Heartland Institute. In other words, who know where Maine really stands?
Tax cuts mean service cuts. Which roads go unpaved?
A Republican would answer, “All the roads except the ones I use will go unpaved”.
So-called “job creators” gobble up more public resources than do the middle class and poor; but don’t DARE tax their profits to contribute to their own largesse!
Oh, and by the way, sub-livable wages are “business friendly”. Oh, if only those pesky regulations would give us the slave-like labor standards of Communist China! Either pay for that labor via the social safety net, or bulk up the police state to suppress the pitchforks when families starve — either way.
One more thing: We “job creators” will be needing more expensive “business attraction and retention programs” — the working poor will have to pony up their humiliating food stamp compensation to pay for that.
Sound absurd? It should. Since when do we owe “job creators” one red cent? …for the infrastructure WE provide that makes their business possible? Since when are employers “entitled” to the cheap, subsidized labor their disproportionate political power affords them?
If you give employers a reason (low taxes) to bring new business to Maine, they will create good paying jobs here and not in other States, in turn; more tax payers, but lower taxes for all. We also need to change some laws regarding energy to lower energy costs to get good paying jobs here. Remember, Government was created to work for people and not the other way around. Maine people may have forgot that due to the Democratic Policies that became status quo for 40+ years up until 2011.
Sure you can bring good paying jobs to Maine but dose maine have the Maine people have the skills to do the work ?
LePage backed up by the Tax Foundation is a perfect formula for the dunce cap of the year award. This is the same Tax Foundation that “corrected” its rating of Maine from 2nd to 15th because of a “computational error” and includes in taxes Mainers pay a prorated amount from taxes Oil companies pay Alaska in extraction taxes based on an estimate of Alaskan Oil Maine uses. Bizarre.
Taxes have no overall effect on economic growth or employment. That is the conclusion of the Congressional Budget Office after analyzing 30 years of Republican tax cuts and increases. All tax cuts do is shift the burden of government from those who use it, the rich, to those who are used by it, the middle class and poor.
It is about time. Cut taxes and get business working.
Do they do you really think if they cut the business taxes that they will hire more people ?
If Maine becomes a right to work will that bring more jobs to Maine ?
Cut the war on drugs tax. It is too costly and it is madness. Ending the war tax would create economic growth. War is not the answer, it is the problem.
Yeah LePage – let’s eliminate the corporate income tax so your business – that pays your part-time workers minimum wage with no benefits – makes more money.
Which you will pocket and not give back to your employees – and since you cut taxes on the highest incomes – more money for you! (to spend in Floriduh).
Those tax cuts will reduce state aid to schools – which will have to be made up by increasing property taxes, closing schools, firing teachers and increasing class size.
We know what you think of Maine’s education system – you sent your kids to school in Floriduh.
and one of them is now living large as your personal taxpayer funded coffee-getter.
and since you do not own personal property in Maine – any increases in property taxes won’t take any skin off of yours.
Throw the GOP bums out this November.
Yessah
Who cares about the Tax Foundation? I believe it is just another radical right wing group funded by the super rich. Is the name Tax Foundation supposed to give credence to Lepage’s choices. More cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class.